If you
didn’t know any different, you
might have thought we were crazy to roll out the “purple carpet” for
some guy named “Packman”, but this Packman is not from the NC State,
nor is he a fan of the 80’s video game. He
is Mark Parker, son of the famous sportscaster Billy Packer, and host
of “Primetime with the Packman”, heard on radio stations across the
south, including Pirate Radio 1250 and 930. His
southern flavored program is one of the most listened to in sports
radio today.

This
summer we invited Packman to put
East Carolina on the “Southern Fried Football” tour. He agreed to
the visit, his first ever to
Greenville, which took place last weekend during the So. Miss.
game.
Once again, remember, he is heard by millions
of people a week, so this was an amazing marketing opportunity for the
University. This is type of exposure ECU
needs, but cannot buy.

He rolled into town
around noon. We were all set-up and ready
to go before the tailgate lots opened up and our pregame show hit the
air (4 hours before kickoff). Many folks have asked me how his visit
went and what he thought of ECU tailgating.

First of all, he
had a blast! Packman has already stated
that he will be back for 2006. He was also
very impressed with the many beautiful coeds on our campus. He
rated ECU right under UGA for the
best-looking student body. I’ve been to
Georgia, and that’s quite a compliment in my book. You can click
on this link www.southernfriedfootball.com/babes/
to see some of Packman’s favorites. You can also click on this link see
all the pictures from the Pirate Radio tailgate, including some bonus
shots that are not on his site.

I took
him down on the field to
meet Terry Holland; of course they already knew each other. Terry
gave him a personal tour of the Murphy
Center, which really looked first class on gameday. I have been
in that building hundreds of times, but
I have never seen it look as good as it did this past Saturday.

I’d like
to thank of all our
listeners, sponsors, friends, and administrators that turned out to
make this visit such a huge success. The
weather was perfect, the tailgate was HUGE, the scenery was great, and
the only thing missing was a win on the football field.